ABC Forecaster Heidi Jones Admits to Filing False Rape Report

The name Heidi Jones has been a Google Trend for two days now. Yesterday, I glanced over it, figuring it had something to do with her successful media broadcasting gig. But, today, I took a closer look—and the story behind it turned out to be, well, weird.

According to police, Jones filed a report on Nov. 24 claiming that a Hispanic man who had approached her outside an apartment three days earlier was the same man who she said tried to rape her while she was jogging in Central Park on Sept. 24. The man, she alleged, dragged her a ways but let her go once spotted by onlookers.

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Apparently, police were onto the discrepencies in her story based on 1) her cheery Facebook statuses on the days she reported being approached and 2) the amount of time it took Jones to report the crime. When approached, Jones told the police she "basically" made the whole thing up, and was subsequently pulled from the air pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

What gives? Jones said that she did it to leverage support. According to LongIslandPress.com, she explained to the police "that she was going through personal and professional stress and thought the story would give her sympathy and attention."

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I get that—she was feeling badly and wanted some love. But why make up such a random, ellaborate story? On the surface, Jones appears normal, beautiful, successful and healthy.

Dr. Gail Saltz, TODAY contributing psychiatrist, said it's not uncommon to either cry rape or think about crying rape, and that the issue falls into a specific category of accusations relating to being attacked and the type of "rescuing" such an attack would provoke. If nothing else, the psychology behind her motives makes sense.

Unfortunately, Jones faces possible jail time, though I tend to think that's unlikely and the least of her problems. If convicted, her career is over—all because she was feeling a little down? We hope she receives the help she may very well need.

Have you ever had a friend who made up an elaborate lie for attention? What was the outcome? – Brynn Mannino, Assistant Editor